


Parallax

by ficlit



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: 4x16, F/M, The Framework
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-09
Updated: 2017-04-09
Packaged: 2018-10-16 18:14:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10576770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ficlit/pseuds/ficlit
Summary: Not much to say. I really enjoyed the final scene for 4x16, but it seemed a little... rushed. My brain would not leave me alone until I fleshed it out a little bit (especially Daisy's thoughts at the time) and this is the result.





	

After they got back to the apartment, things settled down a little bit. Simmons got a shower and came out not looking like the undead. While the shower ran, Daisy took some time to look around her (Skye's) aparment. The bed was still dishevelled from Ward. Ugh.

As hard as she tried, Daisy just could not wrap her head around this world. Why was everything so messed up? This place was supposed to be some kind of utopia of no and Coulson and the others wouldn't want to leave. Instead it was a twisted nightmare. May and Fitz were practically monsters.

And Coulson. Daisy wanted to go to him right now, but if he was like the others it wouldn't make any difference, at least for now. They needed a gameplan.

"Well, I know one thing," she muttered to herself. "In the Framework you can still get hungry." She walked over to the kitchen, determined to have something edible for Simmons when she got cleaned up.

\-------

So the beacon was kaput. No way to get out and go for backup. They would have to keep going forward and fight their way out of the Framework. And hopefully get their friends out with them.

Simmon was fairly quiet through dinner and Daisy knew she was thinking about Fitz. She grilled Daisy for details about his behavior, and even though she knew it would hurt the young scientist, Daisy told her the truth. That Fitz was Hydra and torturing inhumans. In the end Jemma looked more determined than ever to get him out of this place.

"So what about Coulson?" Daisy wasn't sure she was ready to know, but she had to. She had to know what she was dealing with.

"God. It was like he didn't even recognize me." Simmons shuddered a little and took another sip of her drink. "He _didn't_ recognize me. Not at all."

"You said he let Hydra come in and take a kid? I just can't believe it. I mean I know this world is messed up, I mean really messed up, but we're talking about Coulson!"

She must have looked pretty freaked out, but Simmons gave her such a pitying look. "I know, Daisy. But that's what happened. Well, at least was what the young hoodlum who was spray painting my stolen Hydra-mobile said."

"Wait, what?!"

"Oh, well he wasn't that much of a hoodlum. He was just royally ticked off that his frield was taken away. I actually talked to him for a bit and he even let me borrow his car when he realized I wasn't Hydra," she looked at Daisy. "Oh dear. And now it's on fire. I do hope his parents aren't too hard on him."

"We'll I'm sure the've put the fire out by now," Daisy said, unable to keep even a little of the sarcasm out. "but that's the least of our problems. We've still got to figure out how to get Coulson and the other out of the sadistic version of the Matrix"

Simmons was still staring at her wine glass, as if contemplating. "Seriously though, there was something strange about it, Daisy. He didn't remember me, but..."

"But what?"

Simmons looked up. "On the shelf in his classroom. He had your little hula girl dashboard statue."

"What?!"

"Yes! He didn't seem to consciously know it's connection to you. And that's not all. I used the phrase "It's a magical place."and he went a little pale. Wanted to know what made me say that."

"Okaaaayy, what does it mean?"

"Well, I have a theory"

Daisy waited, knowing that most of the time Simmons' theories turned out to be fact.

"Well, we know Coulson's memories have been rewritten before, right? What if his mind is more resilient for the experience. It know's something's not right and it's sending messages to him subconsciously. We all have an active subconscious, but this entire world exists in the lower levels of consciousness, which is allowing his mind to exert minor changes in the "physical world."

"So you think his mind is trying to remember? In a way that won't alert the Framework?"

"Possible. He never did answer me when I asked him if he had feelings of unreality or strange memories. Ugh, it not like he would admit it even if he did. Not in this Orwellian hellscape! You know what he actually said to me? 'I'm loyal to Hydra. I'm just a teacher.' Imagine it!"

"I know. Everyone is afraid of their own shadow in this world. And who can blame them. Hydra thugs could swoop down them at any minute."

They talked about a rough strategy for a little while longer. Daisy was still going to have to keep up appearances at work and Jemma wouldn't really be able to move around much since Hydra had her scent. Eventually, she insisted Jemma take the bed. "I'll be up a little while longer trying to get caught up a on my life as a good little Nazi," she said with bitter smile. I'm gonna end up crashing out on the couch while I'm working anyway."

Simmons looked doubtful, but eventually gave in. She was shaken and exhausted. Daisy was always amazed at how resilient she was. Both her and Fitz were so painfully naive when the team first formed. Now Daisy knew that if she was in a tough spot she would have no problem placing her trust in the other woman in the same way she could with Mack or May. Or Coulson.

\----

In the end she's not sure what pushed her over the line to come here. She couldn't sleep, she couldn't concentrate on her files. She wasn't even planning to talk to him. She just wanted to be close to him, even if it was just being in the empty classroom where Coulson taught. She was surpised to see the glow of a lamp through the window to his classroom, but she decided to wait in his car just the same. Less witnesses and less likely for him to just bolt.

She didn't have to wait long before slid behind the wheel.

"Hey," she said softly, wincing slightly as he jumped in his seat.

"Who are you? Are you with the other person? This is not okay!" Daisy had to stifle a bout of irrational laughter at the almost whiny tone. To hear Coulson sound so... _civilian_. Like someone who is so certain that their world is normal and that things like clandestine midnight meetings could never happen in their lives. Only in the realm of TV and movies.

"Coulson...," trying, trying so hard to keep calm, neutral. "I need you to remember me."

Shaking his head, almost with desparation he said "I'm sorry. We haven't met!"

"We have." Daisy isn't even sure what she came here for, except..."Please...remember me."

"No. This isn't real. You're not here!" he groaned.

She bit her lip. "I am. I am," Daisy soothed. "I'm sorry. I understand what you are going through. Not being sure of what's real. Which memories, which thought are yours and which belong to...somthing else." She shuddered at the memory of seeing him earlier, holding her little dashboard statue like it was the clue to some vast mystery.

"I know it's hard, but...please. Remember me."

His brows furrows with a deep concentration she recogized, but when his eyes returned to hers in the mirror, they held pain. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "I don't."

Daisy closed her eyes. "It's not your fault," she said, letting her hand fall away.

_Why did I come here,_ she thought. _It's way too soon. It doesn't happen like this. What did I think it would be? That I could come here, look in his eyes and he would just wake up like Sleeping Beauty?_ _Just because I--_

She should go, needed to go, should never have come. She could do this alone. Hell, she wasn't even really alone. She had Simmons. Daisy really had been alone at one point, fighting to whole world solo by choice. But this time, for just this time, she wanted someone to lean on. Someone who knew and understood what it was to make the hard call, because she had a feeling she'd have to make more than one before they made it home.

"It's just...you're the person that I go to when things get heavy. And this world is scary and nothing makes sense...and you're the closest thing I have to family. So I just hope that deep down you feel it too." He looked up at that.

Coulson was looking at here with flat stare of concentration and she braced herself for disappointment again. Braced herself to go back to her cold unfamiliar apartment, when she heard him whisper "Daisy?"

She was so emotionally wrung out she almost burst into tears at that small flicker of recognition in his eye. He wasn't back, not all the way but, dammit, there was something _there_.

He leaned forward and squeezed his eyes shut again.

Leaning with him, she whispered "Yeah Coulson, that my name. Daisy. See, you remembered."

But I can't-- I can't remember more! It comes in wisps and snatches, but I can't hold it. I remember the name, but I can't remember you!" he cried. "And it just feels so wrong."

"It's OK Coulson." She gripped his shoulder, trying to give him something. He was facing forward again and was shaking slightly, but he let her hand stay in place. "What's wrong with me?" he asked.

Daisy winced at the obvious pain in his voice. "Nothing, Coulson. You're just having trouble remebering, but we can help you, I can help you. If you'll let me."

He didn't say anything for the longest time, didn't turn around. Then without a word, he slipped his hand over Daisy's on his shoulder and gripped firmly.

"Please," Coulson breathed.


End file.
